


You must be hearing things

by EnderSquid



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Cara | CaptainPuffy and Jschlatt are Siblings, Cara | CaptainPuffy is Clay | Dream's Parent, Curses, F/F, Forests, M/M, Missing Children, Multi, Mystery, Older Sibling Sam | Awesamdude, Parent Darryl Noveschosch, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Parent Sam | Awesamdude, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnderSquid/pseuds/EnderSquid
Summary: Phil thought he found the perfect spot for his kids to grow up in.But his neighbours always seem so nervous about his sons and keep telling him of a curse that would take them.Why would he believe that?
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Ranboo & Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream, Cara | CaptainPuffy/Niki | Nihachu, Noah Brown & Cara | CaptainPuffy, Ponk | DropsByPonk/Sam | Awesamdude, Sam | Awesamdude & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 56
Kudos: 218





	1. Moving in

A car moved along a long stretch of highway, trees lining the sides of the road as it sped past the tall giants of Nature.  
The forest had been going on for miles now.

The paved road had changed to gravel a few times along the trip but was now smooth and paved as far as the eye could see.  
It was a peaceful car ride in and out.

In the car, a family of four all relaxed as the car took them to a new destination that none of the kids had seen before.

The eldest of two twins allowed a toddler to rest his head on his arm as the car rocked slightly, much better than when the road was a bumpy mess and kept waking up the younger boy.  
The middle child held various music sheets in his hands, filing through them to pass the time that they were spending in the car.

Their father looked back at his kids every so often, smiling at their calm and less active attitude than hours before this moment.

Phil kept his eyes on the road as he crossed over a bridge that led into his family's new town.  
The river underneath the bridge rushed and the sound flurried into the open windows, making the boys all turn their heads towards the falling water below.

Tommy rubbed his eyes and looked out over Techno to see if he could spot the river while rubbing his eyes.  
They passed over the river before he could.

Wilbur laughed and set down his music sheets as Tommy huffed and crossed his arms, cheeks puffing out in annoyance.  
"We can come to visit the river when we've settled in Tommy." Tommy looked over to Wilbur with a wide smile, "Really Big man!" Wilbur nodded and Tommy hugged his older brother's arm.

Techno rolled his eyes at Tommy's excitement but still smiled as his eyes wandered to the window and up into the blue sky without a cloud nearby.  
Phil smiled back at his three adopted kids as they all rested down again.

The trees quickly gave way to open fields and small houses spread around.  
Animals stood in the fields and ate the lush green grass that surrounded them.

Both Wilbur and Tommy took interest in a cow and sheep farm that they passed on their right.  
Techno caught his eye on a stable with horses that had a sign for horseback riding lessons.

Birds flew overhead as more buildings came into view.

Houses and shops began to mix before they finally reached the centre of the town with people wandering the town and laughing with each other.

Tommy looked around and sighed, crossing his arms as he saw no kids that were around his age despite it being the middle of summer and there being no school.  
Phil found it odd too.

Techno and Wilbur were more preoccupied with finding stuff to do over the summer.  
Such as fencing lessons that Techno had spotted or the Arcade that Wilbur had seen.

Tommy had been happy when he saw a huge playground....with no children on it.

Phil ignored anything he found weird and continued driving until they left the populated area of the town and into the more rural part again.  
It took about five minutes of driving past fields that Phil finally pulled into the driveway of a house painted a robin egg blue colour.  
The house was two floors high with an attic and had a few trees around the property. One of which had a swing tied to its branches and swinging in the hot summer wind.

Techno climbed out of the car with Wilbur struggling to wrestle Tommy out of his car seat as the toddler laughed at his misfortune.

Phil came around the car and finally helped pulled Tommy from the seat and let him down, watching the boy run over to the swing that hung from a very tall tree.

Phil smiled as his three sons all began to interact with the swing, Techno and Wilbur taking turns to push Tommy on the swing.

The swing swung around as his boys laughed. Phil began to unpack the car, listening to his boys as he carried out a few bags and placed them on the porch of the house that was covered in a nice roof.

Phil set down some boxes of books as two women began walking up the driveway talking to each other and glancing at the boys as they played and at him as they grew closer and closer to the house.

One of the women wore a long red cardigan with a black T-shirt and shorts while the other wore a striped tank-top and jeans.  
Both held a small box in their hands.

“Hello, you must be the new neighbours." The woman in red spoke with a happy and upbeat voice.

Phil nodded and walked down from the porch, "yup, we are, I’m Phil Minecraft." The woman nodded back.

"Well, I'm Puffy, and This is my girlfriend Niki." Niki nodded and waved, holding the box in her one hand.  
Puffy smiled then looked back at the three kids, "So, three of the gremlins." Phil chuckle and nodded.

"The tallest boy is Wilbur, His twin is Techno and the little boy is Tommy." Phil pointed at each of his kids.  
"How old are they?" Niki asked, her voice more quiet and calm than Puffy's.

"Wil and Techno are twins and are thirteen, while Tommy is five." puffy and Niki looked back at each other with worried eyes, "Well.." Puffy pointed down the road, "We live in the pink house down the street with my son Dream, also.." Phil opened his ears and nodded.  
”Keep Tommy away from the forest, somethings been kidnapping kids under ten in the town, it happened to my other son Foolish about three years ago by now.” Puffy lowered her head and sighed.

Phil thought about the words that Puffy had given to him, and he nodded, “I’ll keep it in mind.” 

Puffy nodded then reached out the box she was holding, “anyways, gifts from the neighbours.” Phil nodded and took the small box into his hands, along with Niki’s.  
Phil carried them over to the porch and placed them on a few other boxes as the two began to walk away from the house.

Niki paused and turned around to look at Phil again, “by the way, some people may come by claiming the kidnappings on a curse, don’t believe them.” She shouted, before running to catch up with Puffy as they walked down the road and towards a wheat field.

Looking back to his sons, Phil shook his head and sighed. Tommy loved climbing trees, so he’d have have to figure out something to keep him away from the woods so he didn’t get kidnapped.  
Maybe a horror story?  
Or a punishment if he goes?

Phil would have to think about something to keep his youngest away from the forest.

But for now, he’d have to unpack.

“Boys, go pick a room for yourselves.” Tommy hopped off the swing and ran towards the house, Techno and Wilbur right behind him as he pushed past Phil and ran up the stairs while laughing like the child he was.

Phil laughed as he heard Techno and Phil shouting that Tommy couldn’t pick the biggest of three rooms that were theirs, Tommy shouting back that he had claimed it first.  
He heard more footsteps and wrestling as the other two wrangled each other for the second biggest.

*****

Phil finally watched as Tommy climbed down the attic stairs with an empty box.  
Tommy really wanted the highest room despite being the smallest of the three boys.

Phil’s room was right underneath his, Techno’s was to Phil’s right and was the second nuggets of the boys rooms while Wilbur’s was across from Techno’s.

It had taken a few days, but they were finally all unpacked and moved in.  
Only one crazy person came to scream about a curse that had caused all three of his boys to sleep in the same room that night.

Now they could go visit their neighbours and wander the town so they could become familiar.

The three boys were all dressed in shorts and tank-tops for the hot weather of July and applying sunscreen as Phil packed a bag with sunscreen, water, some snacks, sunglasses, and a notebook with a pen to right down stuff about the town.

Phil looked to his three boys form the kitchen, watching Tommy shout as Techno tried to apply sunscreen to his cheeks which were just covered in the sunscreen and made the boy look like a marshmallow.  
Wilbur was applying sunscreen on his arms and was laughing at the others misfortune.

A clock ticked behind Phil as he put on a white and green bucket hat and pulled the bag over his shoulders, ushering the boys out of the house and guided them to their bikes.  
Phil strapped Tommy into a seat on his bike, as much as Tommy wanted to ride his bike, Phil knew he’d get tired and fall behind. Phil then helped Techno and Wilbur put on their helmets then began their journey.

Their first stop was Niki and Puffy’s house.

It was indeed painted a nice light pink and was painted with different types of flowers on the walls, there was even a few paintings of mushrooms lining the bottom of the house.  
Niki and Puffy were sitting in the front with three other teenage boys that looked about Techno and Wilbur’s age.

A pitcher of Lemonade was out and their laughter could be heard from the street.  
“Hey mom, who’s that?” Phil heard and saw a boy in a green and white stripped t-shirt point down at him.

Puffy and Niki immediately waved down to them, motioning the family to join them on their porch.  
Techno and Wilbur walked up to the Porch as Phil unstrapped Tommy and set him down to run up to the porch with his brothers.

Puffy was pouring the boys glasses of lemonade and Niki was setting out some pats for the boys to sit on.  
“It’s good to see you again Phil, How has unpacking been?” Puffy poured another glass of lemonade.

“It’s been good, Wilbur dropped a box on the porch and nearly broke it.” Puffy laughed as Niki smiled.

“Well anyways..” Puffy motioned to the three kids. First she pointed at the boy with the stripes, “this is my Son dream, he’s fourteen, and so are his friends..” she pointed to a boy wearing a white headband, “that’s Sapnap, his parents own the diamond bakery..” and finally she pointed at a boy wearing glasses, “and that’s George...uhm...I don’t know who his parents are.” George waved with a smile.

Techno stared at George before taking a sip of his glass of lemonade.  
Sapnap cleared his throat and looked at Tommy to speak, “Y’know, I haven’t seen a kid your age in a while little guy.” Tommy puffed out his cheeks and set down his cup just to cross his arms, “I’m a big man.”  
Sapnap chuckled and rolled his eyes, “sure you are...anyways!” Sapnap leaned back with a grin.

“Stay away from the forest little guy, or the monsters will come and eat ya.” Tommy stared at Sapnap for a second before he started to tear up.  
“I’m not going to get eaten.” Tommy shouted, hugging onto Phil’s leg, “Dad will protect me.” Phil patted Tommy’s head and nodded, “mhm, I’ll keep you safe Toms.” 

Sapnap looked to Dream and George and raised an eyebrow, George and Dream gave him disapproving glares back.

Tommy picked his cup back up and took a sip while small tears slipped down his face. He wouldn’t get eaten by a monster, dad wouldn’t let him.

Niki looked around and set down her cup, “anyways, you guys must be looking around the town.” Phil nodded and Niki took that as turn to continue, “so you should probably go, we wouldn’t want to keep you up.”

Phil nodded again, “thank you for the lemonade.” He set his empty cup on a table and his boys did the same.

Puffy and Niki waved the four goodbye as they left on the bikes again, travelling down the road again towards the town.  
Phil looked at every bit of forest as he passed it, always feeling like he’d catch something in the corner of his eyes when he looked at the moving trees.  
Maybe he’d see a monster coming out to get at his youngest son who shouted happily behind him as he moved forward.

Phil wouldn’t lose Tommy.


	2. Exploring the town

The bike ride was about twice as along as the car ride was, taking ten minutes before they entered the town again.

Just like earlier, no kids under the age of ten wandered around.

Phil looked around the streets and saw adults and teenagers, but no kids.

No cars lined the streets, only people on bikes and people walking. Phil must’ve been the first car around for a bit.  
People stared at Tommy as they passed, whispering to each other acting as though Phil wouldn’t see them.  
Phil saw them.

He was glad his boys didn’t see the whispering people.

Phil also saw many missing child’s posters hung up on electric poles.  
His eye caught one with ‘foolish’ in the name.  
Puffy’s other son.

There were so many missing child’s posters around, and he was happy his boys didn’t see that as well.  
It would only scare them all.

Phil stopped his bike and Wilbur and Techno did the same.  
The two hooked up their bikes and tied their helmets to their bike as Tommy ran free around them with his helmet in his hands.  
Phil took Tommy’s helmet and tied it into his seat so it wouldn’t get lost.

Then they began travelling around the town.  
They were at the town centre, a water fountain just a few feet away and spewing water.  
Benches sat around the fountain, some with people on them laughing, talking, ready, writing, everything. The town seemed energetic despite the lack of kids.

Phil could see a few curtains move when he looked to them and sometimes saw a small kid looking through them towards him or any other family in the town.

Many trees laid down shade around the fountain, covering the people on benches and the minecraft family as they began to walk through the fountain park and towards one of the many streets in the town.

They walked onto the street and down the sidewalk, admiring the shops and bakeries that lined the streets, along with pointing out the various potted plants that lined the streets.

Wilbur was quick to point out an arcade across the street and Phil quickly wrote it down in the notebook he brought along.

Techno however, pointed to a blue coloured bakery called the Diamond Bakery.  
“That’s where Puffy said Sapnap’s parents worked.” Phil nodded and wrote down the bakery’s name and looked into the window to see a man staring out at them with sad eyes.  
More looking.  
Everyone was looking.

Phil ushered his boys along to avoid the gaze of the sad man.

They turned left onto another street, and Tommy was quick to point to a playground on their right that Phil wrote down the location of.  
The playground was empty without a kid on it.

They walked past the playground, and looked to the forest beyond it.  
The edge of town.

Phil would’ve sworn he saw two boys holding hands with purple hoodies on despite it being July.

But he blinked and they were gone, leaving behind nothing where they would’ve been.

He passed it off as nervousness.

They continued again, leaving behind the playground for a few rows of houses on their left.  
Phil still saw little kids hiding away behind curtains.

Sure, someone was kidnapping little kids near the forest, but locking up the kids felt really extreme.

On lamp posts, the missing child’s posters began appearing again, and Phil tried his best to ignore all of the cases, but his curiosity got the best of him.  
Phil wandered over to a lamp post to look at it.

Six missing child posters.  
For a boy named Tubbo, one named Ranboo, one named Purpled, one named Jack, and the last two...  
Phil felt his heart go dry as he saw the two boys pictures, the same two boys he had seen in the forest.  
Zachary and Ash.  
Who had gone missing four years ago.

Phil bit his lip, then left the lamp post as to not arouse suspicion in the boys as they walked ahead and back into the town.  
Phil had seen two missing kids, who had disappeared in a instant after he saw them.

Phil became instantly aware of every bit of his surroundings.  
Most of the houses around them were empty and abandoned, left to rot in the town.  
The trees had stopped rustling together and had fallen silent.

Phil felt as though something was watching him and spun around to look behind him.  
Nothing.

Phil shook his head and sighed, catching up with his kids to hopefully forget what he saw and report the sighting to the police if they can do anything.

The boys were oblivious as Wilbur and Techno swung Tommy in between them, all whilst Techno talked about Ancient Greek myths that he had read about.  
They hadn’t seen anything that Phil had.

Phil felt relived by the fact that they hadn’t seen anything. It would just scare them all more.

They continued their walking.  
The stores appeared again as they made a left down a road.

Phil started noticing a few more missing posters of the boys ‘Purpled’ and ‘Tubbo’.  
Then he stopped at a fencing lessons place, three missing posters of ‘Purpled’ all in the window.

That’s when his boys noticed the posters.  
“Gee, kids do really go missing sometimes eh.” Techno read through the information on the poster, then looked up at the sign on the top of the building.  
“‘Punz’s fencing lessons’” Phil wrote down the name, but the dread stayed in his stomach.

Tommy wouldn’t go missing under his watch like these other kids.

A few shops down was a lemon shop...just...lemons.  
‘Tubbo’ was placed two times on the window of the store.  
Phil wrote it down as well.

Just next to the lemon shop was a mechanic shop with the same posters.

Tommy noticed them, but didn’t seem to get the gist that they weren’t a good thing, “look Dad, he has his face on a poster, I want my face on a poster.” Phil patted Tommy’s head and stared down the missing child poster.  
“No you don’t.”  
Before Tommy could argue, a man came out from the lemon shop with a few oil leaks over his clothing.  
“Hello, you must be the new people Puffy was talking about.” The man greeted, waving with a few lemons in his other hand.

“Yea...you know Puffy?” Phil looked the man up and down.  
“Me and her have been friends since middle school.” Phil nodded as the man looked at the mechanic shop, then at the poster of the boy.  
“That’s my son there, he went missing last year with his friend Ranboo.” Phil looked over the boy in the picture, who laughed in the still image.  
He was the same age as Tommy.

Tommy gripped Phil’s leg as he looked up at the new person.  
“I’m Sam by the way, the only mechanic in town after everyone left,” Sam looked around the empty streets, eyes wandering over all the abandoned shops, “went from 4,567 to 634 in about two months.” That was a pretty big drop in people in a town that seemed so lively.

Phil nodded and looked around the streets, “I was wondering why it was so empty.” Sam nodded.  
“People were scared of a ‘curse’ over the town, but I know nothing of this apparent curse.” Phil sighed and rolled his eyes.  
He felt like eyes were staring into his back.

Phil bit his lip and gripped Tommy’s hand, “may I ask why people believed there was a curse?”  
Sam shook his head and sighed, “sleep paralysis, feeling like eyes were staring into their back, seeing things, apparently seeing the missing kids with huge monsters, noticing things that don’t belong.” Phil nodded, patting Tommy’s head with his one hand as Tommy gripped his hand.

“Well...uh...what are your sons names?” Sam kneeled down and looked at Tommy in the eyes with a warm and gentle smile.

“I’m Wilbur.” Wilbur raised his hand for a shake, and Sam shook his head with a polite smile, Techno looked around before shrugging, “I am Techno.” Sam nodded again.  
Tommy let go of Phil’s hand and puffed out his chest, “and I am big man Tommy!”  
“His full name is Theseus.” Techno whispered and Tommy turned around and hit the older boys stomach.

Sam laughed and nodded, “I’ll commit that to memory, anyways, I have to fix up some broken bikes for Sally, I’ll see you around.” Sam waved goodbye and walked into the mechanic shop.

Phil thought for a moment and shook his head, ignoring and negative thoughts that came to his head.  
“C’mon boys, lets continue on.” 

*****

They had spent the entire day travelling the town, writing down different places for family hangouts and time alone whenever they need it.  
Now they were biking down the road back home as the sun began to set.

Tommy slept in the back of the bike as they passed by trees and bushes and fields.  
They passed by Puffy and Niki’s home again and saw their family on the porch still, now eating some dinner.  
They waved as they passed by, and the bikers waved back.

Then they pulled into the driveway of the robin egg blue house.

They parked and Phil unbuckled Tommy and carried him into the house after Techno and Wilbur.  
It was only 6:23 PM when they arrived home, but everyone was tired.

Phil took Tommy upstairs as Techno and Wilbur turned on the T.V.  
Tommy shifted in Phil’s arms and cuddled up against him as he snored lightly.  
Phil didn’t want to let go of his youngest and risk him being taken too.

But he had too.

Phil climbed up the stairs to the attic and placed Tommy down in his bed and turned on the red nightlight that formed stars above Tommy’s head.  
Phil looked at the stars then back down at Tommy, leaning down to give his son a kiss on the forehead before he left to go back downstairs to his other two boys.

He heard Tommy shift, and looked back to see Tommy sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes.  
“Dad...?”  
Phil walked back over to his son and sat down beside his bed, “Yes Toms?”  
“Are the monsters going to eat me?” Phil reaches out and hugged his son, rubbing his back.  
“Of course not Toms, it’s just some story, and you know I would protect you from any monster.” Tommy nodded and hugged his father.  
“Can you tell me a story?”

Phil nodded, and grabbed a book from the edge of Tommy’s bedside table.  
“Once upon a time...”

The story was about a knight saving a child from a ferocious dragon, defeating the monster and taking the child to safety and singing his a protective lullaby that would protect the boy forever.  
Tommy lulled himself to sleep halfway through the book, but Phil continued to read the story.

“...and they all lived happily ever after.” Tommy was softly snoring again as he tucked up next to his cow plushie.  
Phil looked down at his son with a sad smile.  
Phil sighed and put the book away, moving back to the door and looking back at Tommy before he left for good that time.

He wandered down the stairs into the living room where Wilbur and Techno were watching a movie about a universe where one entity controlled it all.  
Phil was amused as his sons debated on whether the main characters possessions of discs would be stolen again.

He watched them as they laughed at the characters in the movie.  
He smiled at their happy faces.  
He wanted to protect them.

Then Wilbur noticed him.  
“Hey...Dad...?” Phil nodded and walked over to the couch and sat down next to his son.  
“Yes?”  
Wilbur gulped and looked back at Techno, “is there really something in the woods?” Phil shook his head And lowered his shoulders.  
“Someone is kidnapping kids in the area near the forest, so if I’m not home, I need you boys to keep Tommy away from the forest...All right?” Wilbur and Techno nodded in sync.  
“We promise we will Dad.” Techno said, resting his head on his hand.

“Thank you boys.” Phil looked out the window towards the forest.  
He continued looking out the window as Wilbur and Techno left for bed and turned off the TV.  
He watched the forest with tired eyes, waiting for something.  
And he saw it.

A boy standing closer to the window than the forest, eyes wide and smile way to wide for any real child.  
Blood dropped from his eyes as he stared at Phil.

That was Tubbo.  
And a monster stood behind him, not staring at Phil.

But staring at Tommy’s window.


	3. Parents and Grief

Phil woke up the next morning on the couch that he had been watching the window through.  
He could smell toast coming from the kitchen and heard all three of his boys whispering under their breath as they tried to make breakfast that day.

Phil smiled and sat up on the couch, stretching and waiting to see if his kids would need help after all.  
While he waited, he thought.

What did he see last night?

Phil rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked to the window he was watching the night before.  
There was nothing there.

But he could’ve sworn he saw that lost boy...with....something.

Phil couldn’t think about it though as he heard the boys stop talking and saw Wilbur enter the living room with a tray of breakfast covered in flour and dough.  
“Good morning Dad...” Wilbur handed Phil the tray then ran back to the kitchen.  
Something had gone wrong in there.

Phil looked at a lock on the wall to see what time it was.  
9:54 AM.

It was later than he expected.

Phil shook his head and began eating the food on the tray.  
Most of it was burnt.  
Even the toast.  
The only thing not burnt was the fruit that had been cut and placed on the side in a little bowl.

He shouldn’t let his kids cook.

Phil picked up the bowl of fruit and set every other part of the tray down.  
He was going to investigate outside.

Phil wandered out of the kitchen into the entrance of the house.  
He swung open the door to the porch and walked out, down the stairs, and towards the window he had been looking through.  
The grass around the area was disturbed.

Phil looked up to the window and felt his heart stop.  
Around the window was a bunch of dirty handprints with red mixed into them.  
A child’s handprints.

But there wasn’t just one size, there were at least sixteen different sized hands.

Phil looked even higher towards Tommy’s window and saw handprints bigger than his head climbing up towards the attic room.

It made his heart stop seeing the handprints.  
It stopped even more when he saw a bloody bee plushie sitting Underneath the window.  
Phil had to take that to police.

Phil bolted back inside and rushed into the kitchen past his boys.  
“Wilbur, Techno,” he whispered to the two boys, “keep Tommy inside until I come back, okay.” The two boys looked at Phil with fear in their eyes but nodded anyways.

Phil grabbed a huge ziplock bag and some tongs before sprinting back outside.  
Phil picked up the plushie with the tongs and placed it into the ziplock bag.

He wasted no time getting into his car and leaving to get to the towns police station.  
He didn’t look at the trees as he passed them, staring ahead as he finally entered the town.  
No one was out.

The police station was another two minutes away when he entered, but he managed to make it in about one minute.

Phil opened the door to the police station with a shaking hand, and the one police officer inside stopped whatever she was doing to look at Phil as he shook.  
“Hello, do you need something?” The officer asked, and Phil nodded and lifted up the ziplock bag.

“I found this outside my house this morning.” The officer looked at the plushie with wide eyes and grabbed at the ziplock bag and placed it on the desk.  
“I’ll be calling Callahan for this.” The officer muttered, and picked up the phone and began texting an individual.  
Then they called another.

Phil didn’t listen in to the conversation.

Once the officer stopped, she looked back at Phil and bit her lip, “I’m officer Alyssa, by the way, and I’ll gave to as a few questions.”  
Phil nodded. He may not be ready to answer though.

“Did you see anything strange before this plushie appeared?” Phil swallowed as he thought about it.  
He had seen the monster and the lost boy.

“I thought it was a hallucination, but I saw one of the boys on the missing posters with...something..standing behind him.” Alyssa nodded and write down what Phil was telling her.  
“Any other strange appearances?”  
“Also yesterday, I thought I saw the missing twins by the park.” Alyssa nodded and scribbled down the words.  
“They seem to be the most common sightings. Anything else?”  
“There was many different types of child’s handprints, and some larger ones leading up to my youngest sons room.” Alyssa ceased her writing.  
“How old is your son?” She asked, lowering the book and looking Phil in the eye.

“He’s five.” Alyssa threw down the notebook and began leaving the office, “I’ll be going to investigate the scene, you stay here.” Phil wanted to argue, but the officer obviously knew what she was doing.

Phil stood in the office for around two minutes before the doors opened again and Sam entered the office, wiping away a few tears from his face.  
Behind him was a teenage boy with a scar running along his face.

“Phil...good morning...” Sam sounded tired and worn out, much different from his more positive attitude from the day before.  
“Good morning, Sam.” Sam nodded, looking back to the teenager behind him.  
“This is my younger brother Quackity.” Quackity managed a weak wave, but looked ahead at the bee plushie still lying on the desk that Alyssa had placed it on.

“That’s Tubbo’s.” Quackity whispered, walking over to the plush to look down at it.

Sam shook his head and sighed sadly, avoiding looking at the bee plush.  
“What did you see Phil?” Sam was straightforward with what he was talking about, staring Phil in the eyes like Alyssa had done only minutes prior.  
Phil felt like Sam would just laugh in his face if he spoke the truth, but he had too tell someone.

“I saw your son and a monster.” Sam’s eyebrows lowered and he shook his head.  
“Handprints?” Sam seemed to believe him more than Phil believe himself.

Phil bit his lip, “Childs hands, and one huge one leading up to Tommy’s room.” Sam grabbed Phil’s shoulders immediately.  
“Lock that fucking window. Bolt it shut. Move Tommy somewhere you can get to him quickly.” Phil pulled back from Sam and looked into the mans frantic eyes.

Sam was giving Phil advice that he should be taking, and he was going to.  
He wished he wanted to leave, but he didn’t.  
“You can’t leave with a child of Tommy’s age, they’ll just follow you, you aren’t safe anywhere, that’s what I tried, but they took Tubbo anyway.” Sam’s eyes looks like that of a madman’s.

Maybe Sam was a madman, but Phil now trusted this madman with his life as Quackity nodded along to whatever Sam was saying.  
Something was wrong with this town.

Not even thirty seconds later, another man walked into the office wearing a officer uniform and rubbing his eyes.  
He began making movements with his hands, and Sam nodded along as he did so.

Sam looked over to Phil with the same eyes, then back at the man, “you probably can’t understand sign language, this is Callahan, he’s the police chief.” The man waved and Phil waved back.

Callahan began signing again, and Sam nodded, “he’s asking where Alyssa is.” Phil looked at the bee again that at Callahan.

“She went to my house to investigate the strange behaviour.” Callahan nodded and gave a thumbs up before leaving the office again.

The three stood silently in there, the silence deafening the room and giving off a terrible aura.

None of the, spoke what they were thinking, not one of them.

Quackity twiddled his thumbs and bit his lip, then left the office.  
Sam and Phil were left in the terrible silence.

Only interrupted by Phil’s phone buzzing in his pocket.  
Phil picked up to see Wilbur texting him pictures of Alyssa with unreadable captions, but was obviously asking why there was a police officer at the house.  
He didn’t send a reply.

But left the office to return home to his sons.  
Leaving Sam to ponder his thoughts and the bee plushie.

Phil got in his car again and sat in silence for another minute.  
Tommy was actually in danger.

Phil started up the car and began driving back down and out of the town towards the Robin egg blue house.  
The roads seemed more sinister now.  
The blue sky above had shifted into grey clouds and had started to let down small droplets of rain down onto the car and the road.

It felt like it took forever until he reached the house and saw the two police cars outside.  
Phil pulled in and saw Alyssa and Callahan discussing something on the side of the house where the handprints were.

Neither saw or heard him pull in until he shut the car door and they looked towards him.  
“Hello Mr. Minecraft.” Alyssa greeted as she looked up at the handprints.

“Hello...” Phil looked into the house where his sons were standing in Techno's room and staring down at him.  
He waved up at them.  
“Mr. Minecraft, we believe you should probably take your kids somewhere else for the day.” Alyssa spoke up, and Phil nodded.

Phil entered his house like it was something different than a house.  
Tommy and Wilbur came running down the stairs.  
“Dad why are there police here?”  
“Why are they flashing?” 

Phil quieted his two boys, “go pack some things for the day, we’re leaving the house.” Both nodded and ran up to their rooms, shouting to Techno to do the same.  
Phil watched them run up the stairs and began packing a bag of food again, thinking about Sam’s eyes and the monster he saw.  
He remembered the warning.

He couldn’t leave, or whatever it was would follow him and take his son from him anyways.

Phil paused as he heard thunder outside.  
A summer storm.

Phil swallowed his spit and zipped up the bag again, watching his sons all come down with some things to stay entertained with.

He was glad none of them knew of the conversation he just had with Sam.  
“C’mon boys.” Wilbur and Techno ran out to the car with Tommy trailing behind them.  
Phil followed them out and tried not to make eye contact with the officers as they took pictures of the scene.

He left as soon as he could, leaving behind the house for the empty road.  
“So...where should he go boys?” Silence filled the car as each boy thought of different areas that the family liked go to.  
“Can we go to Puffy’s?”  
“How about the Arcade?”  
“The library sounds nice.”  
“Nerd.”  
“Shut up raccoon.”  
“Pig.”  
“Gremlin.”  
“Bitch.”

Phil looked around back at Tommy, who’s face immediately stopped completely.  
“What’s was that Tommy?” The boy didn’t talk and just stayed silent.

Phil smiled and rolled his eyes, turning back to the road as he drove ahead.  
Maybe Puffy’s would be nice, but it would be rude to show up unexpected.

As he thought that, he slowed down as he passed by their house.

Puffy, Niki, and four boys all sat under the porch again and waved to the car.  
Maybe just a quick stop.

Phil pulled into the driveway and stopped the car, getting out to see Puffy coming down the stairs of the Porch.  
“So, How have you all been?” Puffy smiled, very much contrasting Phil’s tired and worried eyes.

“We’ve been well enough, cops showed up to our house for some reason.” Wilbur blurted out, hopping out of the car.

“May I ask why?” Puffy tilted her head at Phil.  
“Not something I would discuss in front of my kids.” Puffy nodded.  
“Well, come in.”

The family was welcomed onto the porch again.  
Sapnap sat next to a new boy this time.  
“That’s Karl.” Karl waved and leaned onto Sapnap’s shoulder.

The three boys all sat down on the porch again. Puffy invited both Phil and Niki inside.  
Puffy closed the door behind them and looked at Phil.

“So...what happened?”  
Phil would have to tell another person that day.

“I saw Tubbo, and a monster.” Niki immediately began digging into a drawer near the door and pulled out a drawing and showing it to Phil.  
It was the exact monster he had seen.  
“Like this?” The monster had empty eyes that were still staring at him.  
He could see that thing standing in a forest beckoning children towards it.

“Exactly like that.” Puffy and Niki looked at each other than back at Phil, worried eyes that were opposite to Sam’s stared at him.  
Niki put the paper back, then pulled out another drawing.  
This time it was of Tubbo the same way Phil had seen him before.  
“Did Tubbo look like this?”

Phil nodded, and Puffy and Niki put the page away again, uncomfortable aura spreading through the house.

Phil felt like he heard screaming in the back of his mind, hearing millions of kids scream at once, like every missing kid screamed at him at once.

The he heard a specific scream in the back of his mind.

He heard Tommy’s scream in the back of his head.


	4. July to August to Nightmares and Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW/Description of death and Injury/Sleep paralysis and monster mention

Days passed before they moved back into their home again.

Alyssa and Callahan couldn’t find anything else but footsteps leading around the house then back out to the forest.  
Phil moved Tommy from his attic room to where Techno’s room had been and Tommy didn’t seem to argue about the whole ordeal.

Now Phil stay downstairs again, staring out the same window.  
It was midnight again, and maybe he was waiting to see if he saw the boy again.

His boys were asleep upstairs, and Phil pulled hear Techno’s white noise machine wafting through the house.  
It was relaxing.

A night where he shouldn’t worry.  
But all he’s done is worry since he got to this house a few weeks ago.  
And just like Sam’s warning, he couldn’t leave or they would come with them.

The creature he saw reminded him of a nightmare he used to have as a kid, but they were never the main antagonist, it was always a white-eyed man that chased after him with the monsters standing around.

Phil heard small footsteps above him and raised his head to watch Tommy coming down the stairs with Henry(A cow plushie) in his sons hands and tears pouring down his face.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Tommy nodded and ran over to Phil, hugging him as he continued crying into Henry.

Phil patted his sons head to comfort him and maybe soothe his sons crying.  
“What was it about?”  
Tommy sniffled and crawled onto the couch to tell the tale of the monster 

Tommy began moving around his hands as he tried to explain, “There was a tall monster in my room, it was scary, bigger than my roof, it didn’t have any eyes and had squiggly things coming from its mouth, and it had sharp teeth like monsters do, it kept getting closer and I couldn’t move then it opened its eyes, they were all over it’s body and they were all looking at me.” Tommy talked in rapid succession, and Phil could barely catch anything the boy was saying.  
“Then it left and I could move again so I came to get you.” Tommy geared up again and hugged his dad.

Phil stopped for a second.  
Then his memory went back to the monster he had seen.  
It sounded exactly like it.

Phil felt his heart stop as Tommy continued crying, quite loudly too.  
Phil hugged his son tightly, not wanting to let go in case he could never hug Tommy again.

He heard doors open upstairs and two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs as Tommy continued to cry, tears soaking Phil’s shirt.

Techno and Wilbur came down the stairs rubbing their eyes, looking at their crying brother with annoyed but caring eyes.

“What happened?” Wilbur yawned, and Tommy turned around with his tear soaked face, “there was a monster in my room and it was going to eat me!” Tommy shouted, causing Techno to flinch at the sudden loud noise.

Techno groaned and rubbed his eyes, “it was just a nightmare, gremlin child. Nothing to worry about.” Techno rubbed his head as Tommy furrowed his eyebrows.  
“No, the monster was there, he touched me.” Phil felt his eyes widen again.  
“Where did it touch you?” Tommy looked at Techno and raised his pyjama shirts sleeve.  
There was a small bruise forming around his wrist already.

Techno and Wilbur bit looked at the bruise too, not speaking up about the strange thing.  
Phil pursed his lips.  
“How about this Tommy, we will built a blanket fort, and then the monster will never get to you again.” Tommy’s eyes shone with excitement and tears.  
“Really?” Phil nodded and Tommy smiled.

Techno and Wilbur shook their heads as Tommy wiped away the tears in his eyes, “Wilby and Techie will be my other heroes.” Wilbur smiled and nodded, “don’t say that, I will cry.”  
Tommy turned back to Phil, “but Dads by biggest hero.” Tommy hugged Phil as Phil nodded and ran his hand through Tommy’s hair.

“We’ll get the blankets.” Techno and Wilbur wandered back upstairs again.  
Tommy hopped down from his place on the couch and began eagerly grabbing every pillow in sight.

Phil got up off the couch and opened up a drawer in the kitchen.  
Inside was a package of bioluminescent stars that glowed in the dark.

Phil heard Wilbur and Techno come back down the stairs again, handfuls of blankets being pulled behind them.  
Phil picked up the stars and brought them to the three boys as they began setting up a plan for the fort that they were building up.

Blankets were thrown around the living room, and Wilbur was dragging some chairs into the room to act as stands for the fort.

Phil smiled as Techno threw a pillow at Wilbur and Wilbur threw one back, nearly sparking a war before Phil could intervene and stop the fighting.  
Tommy was already throwing blankets around the chairs and trying to make something that could count as a structure.

The other three began grabbing blankets and the building began.

Phil taped Blankets to walls in order to make a comfortable fort, and he heard chaos around him as a few pillow fights broke out within the brothers.  
He laughed as he heard Techno collapse on the ground and the sound of pillows beating down upon him without any show of mercy.  
They all laughed as a hour went by and they built an entire blanket castle.  
And Phil didn’t see any evidence of the monster throughout the night.  
Not once.

And now his boys laid down some pillows and blankets for beds as he hung up several glowing stars on the walls and along the top of the blanket fort.  
He saw Tommy staring at the stars with wide and curious eyes.

He smiled at his youngest as he tied up the last star.  
Techno and Wilbur had comforted themselves under their blankets with their heads resting on their pillows.  
All was peaceful.

Tommy yawned and rubbed his eyes, and Phil picked his up and cradled him.  
Phil saw down in his own makeshift bed and sat Tommy next to him and beside Techno.  
Tommy would be safe in that area.

Phil tucked Tommy underneath the sheets and laid down next to him, watching his sons eyes fall as he began to snore softly like he always did.  
Like he always would.

Phil smiled at his son with sad eyes, watching his other two sons as they began to fall asleep as well.

He waited another thirty minutes before he got up and left the fort.  
Phil opened the front door quietly and walked onto the porch and out into the front yard.

He stared directly out at the forest.

He saw nothing out there but the tall figures of trees and he heard the sound of wind.  
But only the wind.  
He expected to hear crickets and owls, but he heard nothing.  
Just the wind as it brushed through the trees.

The stars above were bright and loud in the sky, just lighting up the empty field before the forest.  
He saw lumps of stuff that never moved.

Phil crossed his arms as he continued to stare out at the forest, an uneasy feeling filling his stomach and settling throughout his body as he stared out at the way to silent forest.

Where was the wildlife?  
The wolves?  
The foxes?  
The owls?  
The night birds?  
Maybe even hearing a goose in the night would be night.

But now he didn’t even hear the wind.  
Only his own breathing as he looked out into the forest as though he was asking for a death sentence.  
Maybe he was.

He finally heard something.

The sound of a dying animal in the distance.  
He heard it’s life leave it, but never heard whatever killed it.

That’s when he finally saw it.

A towering figure of a human with pure white eyes in the distance.  
It was only getting bigger.  
No closer.

The human shifted from a human to a lanky and tall beast, it’s eyes disappearing and being replaced by tentacles coming from its mouth.  
Phil could heat it screaming as it got closer and closer.

Phil didn’t need to consider anything.

Phil ran into the house and shut the door behind him, locking it as he saw the monster enter the yard and turn towards him.  
Just like Tommy said, eyes opened everywhere on the monsters body to stare directly at him.

It left that side of the house and Phil ran silently into the living room.  
It was taking into that window, staring down at where Tommy would be.

Phil shook his head and ignored it, entering the fort again and laying down next to Tommy.  
All his sons were still fast asleep.

Phil felt his heart racing as he heard heavy breathing from the window.  
But it left after a few minutes.

The monsters were becoming desperate for his son.

Phil felt himself calm down, and for his sons, he finally fell asleep again.

******

Phil woke up in a familiar place.

Where he always had been in his nightmares.  
A cabin in the snowy tundra surrounded by nothing but snow and ice.

The cabin was empty and cold like it always had been.

Phil shook his head and started breathing heavily, pushing himself off his bed and onto his feet.

The world spun and shook as he tried move down the ladder towards the ground floor.  
It was empty, barren of any decoration or living thing.

Phil left the cabin and travelled down some stairs towards the deep snow below.  
He began walking.

He walked through the blinding cold and rage of the snowy storm.

He saw blood in the snow and began to follow it.

Usually at this point in his nightmares as a kid, was when the man with the glowing eyes would show up.

But instead, he was met with a far more horrifying sight.

Techno laid in front of him, eyes staring up at his father.  
Ice coated his skin and the dye of his ears and fingers were black from the cold.

His son was dead.

Phil began to look around frantically as the snowstorm gave up for once.  
In its place was a horrifying sight.

Wilbur was to his right with a sword embedded into his abdomen, blood pooling into a puddle below him and staining the ground a terrible crimson colour.  
To his left was Tommy, bruises battering his face with blood pooling out of the back of his head.  
Tommy’s dead eyes stared at him as the blood soaked the snow.

Many other people surrounded him.

The missing boy, Tubbo, had one half of his halves burned away and drenching the snow in the red of blood.  
Next to him was ‘Ranboo’ who had a smile carved into his face and his eyes torn out of his skull.

Phil saw Sam near Tubbo, hanging by a noose that ran into the sky so far he couldn’t see the end.  
Puffy was nearby, curled around dream as they both bled out.

It was all a bloodbath that was orchestrated by some sick thing.

Phil felt himself breathing heavily as the white-eyed man entered his vision.  
Even he looked distraught.  
“Where’s my son?” Phil heard him callout to no one in particular.

This monster that had chased Phil for so long had a son.

The man looked behind Phil and ran past him.  
Phil turned around to see the man cradling a bleeding boy with sunglasses covering his eyes and a paper crown resting atop his head.

Phil stopped back and shook his head as the man began to sob over his loss.  
Phil felt emotions hit him and the same uneasiness as earlier settled into his stomach.

He heard the screaming before he saw the monsters.  
And soon, eight were all running at him, mouths wide and sharp teeth barring at him.  
He didn’t have time to react as he felt claws pierce his skin and tear into him.

Phil snapped his eyes open, and quickly tried to move to see if his sons were okay.  
But he couldn't move.

Tommy was in front of him, a small bit of drool falling onto his blanket.  
Phil tried his hardest to move and embrace his son.

But he couldn’t.

He heard the front door open and heavy but soft footsteps enter the house.  
They came towards the fort at a agonizing pace.

He heard the blankets shuffle and heard the the footsteps getting closer.  
He saw a foot enter his vision, but not a human foot, more so of a hawk.

Another foot entered his vision and he saw feathers dragging across the ground.

He looked up to see the same monster from the night previous looking down at his son.  
The monster kneeled down and caressed Tommy’s face with a long and slender finger with a horrifying claw at the end of it that was stained in blood.

The monster...laughed..  
The fucker laughed.

Phil tried his best to move, and the monster seemed to take notice.

The monster hit into his face, opening its eyes to stare at him.  
It’s eyes looked like that of a rotting birds.

The monster laughed again and patted Phil’s head, it’s mouth moving as to form a word.

Phil shot up and saw sunlight beaming in through the window.  
He was covered in a cold sweat.

He immediately turned to Tommy to see him still sleeping despite what had just occurred.  
Techno and Wilbur also stayed asleep.

Phil looked around and caught glimpse of the wide open front door.  
That’s when the word of the monster finally hit him.

‘Five’


	5. Beaches and Voices

Phil sat in the kitchen, waiting for his one to get up after that horrible experience.

The eyes of the monster still remained in the back of his head, haunting him every time he blinked or shut his eyes.  
He felt terrified.

He can’t imagine just how much Sam must’ve seen after Tubbo’s disappearance if this is how much Phil is seeing.

It all felt like a terrible nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

Maybe they could go away from the woods.  
There was a beach nearby, maybe a twenty-minute drive.  
That's not near the forest.

Phil snapped back to reality as he heard the blankets in the living room shift and heard three pairs of footsteps.  
“Good morning Boys.” Phil looked to his sons as they all walked over to the table and sat down, rubbing away the sleep in their eyes.

“Dad...a boy visited me in my dreams.” Tommy yawned out, stretch8nghis arms out.  
Phil shook a bit, but nodded, “What was his name?”

“Ranboo.” It wasn't who Phil thought it would be with how much he had seen Tubbo.  
“Mhm?”  
“He was really tall and was older than me, he was also tall, he told me to come with him into the woods.” Phil nearly choked on his spit at his son's information.

“Never go into the forest Tommy.” Tommy tilted his head and stretched out along the table, “why?”

Phil felt a hole in his chest grow.  
“There are terrible things in the woods that will try and hurt you Toms, okay.” Tommy nodded and looked towards a cabinet.  
“Can I have oatmeal?”

Phil nodded and began to make Tommy some oatmeal.

It circled the house, watching through the windows in at the family, keeping its eyes trained on the youngest.  
The best source.

It kept its eyes on him as he left the kitchen and entered his room.  
If only the boy would come to the forest, and then it could take him.  
Mother would love this catch.

Yet she loved every catch.

Phil spun around as he heard sounds in the back of his mind, looking around with his hand gripping a spoon.  
Something was always there.

Now he sat, watching his boy place his bowl into the sink after getting on his tip-toes.

He seemed so proud of himself.  
“Hey Tommy, will you go grab your brothers?” Tommy nodded and ran off into the house again.

Phil was given another second to ponder his decision before his kids all came down the stairs again.  
“What is it, Dad?” Techno rubbed his eyes again, stretching out as he desperately tried to wake up.

“Would you guys like to go to the beach today?” his three boys looked at each other, reflecting on their decisions.  
“YES!”  
“Mhm.”  
“Sure.”

“Then go get ready.” the three boys left again.  
Phil sighed and shook his head, resting his head in his palms as he thought about what he would do.  
How could he protect his family?

“Tommy, please, the suns out, you need sunscreen.” Tommy flew back as Phil tried to get Tommy covered in sunscreen so he didn't get burned during their trip.  
Techno and Wilbur laughed as Tommy hissed at the sunscreen and ran past them into the kitchen with Phil right behind him.

Phil caught Tommy in the kitchen and finally managed to apply sunscreen to his shoulders and face as the boy whined.

Phil picked up Tommy again and began to carry him out to the car where Techno and Wilbur were arguing over who got the front seat.  
“Wilbur gets front this time,” Phil shouted as he dropped Tommy into his car seat and began buckling up the boy as he tossed his arms.  
Tommy hugged and looked at Phil, “why do I need a car seat, I'm a big man!” he semi-shouted, and Phil smiled and rolled his eyes, “it's the law kiddo.”  
Tommy rolled his eyes now, “I'm above the law.”

“Sure you are Toms.” Phil closed the car door and walked around to the driver's side of the car as the other two buckled up in their respective places.  
Phil closed the car door and started up the machine, hearing a hum coming from the car as it started.

He left the driveway, glancing at the forest as he passed.  
He saw a boy wearing a black and white Hawaiian shirt as he passed.  
But he couldn't stop or look back.  
He shouldn't.  
He can't.  
He couldn't.  
And he wouldn't.

Phil blinked and found himself outside of the car, hearing waves crashing against the sans and hearing a few other voices mixing in his head, along with these screech of seagulls.  
(anytime he heard them screech, all he could hear was the monsters screams as they came towards him.)

Phil swallowed his thoughts and watch Techno and Wilbur runoff as Tommy crawled from the car, making a place for them to rest along the beach.

There were about eleven other people at the beach, dotting the rocky shore of the beach and standing on a dock that was far away and seemed to be very old.

“Dad, can I go with Techie and Wilby?” Tommy pulled on Phil’s pant leg, and nodded, “of course, just no going into the water.” Tommy nodded and ran off towards Techno and Wilbur.

Phil watched all his sons with careful eyes, sometimes turning to look at the towering trees that stood in the distance, always thinking he'd see the creatures of nightmares when he looked at it, expecting to see a missing child that looked like they had been tortured in many different ways.

The images burned into the back of his mind the more he thought about it, the window appearing in his vision with the same monstrosity he had seen before he found that plushie.  
He felt himself bite his lip but wasn't quite sure what he was doing as he started at the forest so far away but way too close.  
It was almost as if-

“Hey, are you alright?” Phil spun around with surprise to see the same man from his nightmares standing behind him, but instead of bright white eyes, it was soft caramel eyes that seemed caring.  
“I’m perfectly fine,” Phil commented, looking back to his sons.  
The man looked to where he was looking.

“I remember when my kid was that young, I kept them all cooped up so they wouldn't go missing.” The man shook his head and sighed.  
“This town is fucking cursed,” he muttered, rubbing his head.

“I couldn't agree more.” 

Phil kept his eyes trained on his boys as two others approached them. A ginger and a boy wearing sunglasses.  
A boy wearing sunglasses.

Phil blinked again, and the man looked at him awkwardly.  
“The ginger is Fundy, and the other boy is Eret, my kid.” the man stuck out a hand.  
“I'm herobrine.” Phil nodded and shook his hand.  
“I'm Phil.” 

Herobrine nodded and looked back at his kid, “anyways, have a good day.” Herobrine walked away.  
He was in Phil’s nightmares.  
And Eret had been dead.

But he wasn't.  
Maybe this was all just a bad dream.

Though he couldn't help but hear screams in the back of his mind.  
So many screams.

Phil blinked as he saw three other boys and two adults join the conversation that his sons were having with Eret and Fundy.

Phil stopped his thinking and finally walks over to the small group that was forming.  
“Uh...hello?” the two adults turned to Phil and both smiled.  
“Hello!” the taller one spoke, waving his hand.

“Sapnap’s told us about you,” these must be Sapnap’s dads.

“I'm Halo, and This is Skeppy.” the taller man pointed his hand at the smaller man.  
“I can introduce myself.” Skeppy scowled, but quickly smiled afterwords.

Skeppy held a hand out for Phil to shake.  
Phil took the hand and shook it, feeling a small sense of calm ways over him as he did.

Phil looked behind Skeppy and Halo and saw the same boy from earlier starting at him, a monster standing behind him and staring at all the kids in the group with a terrible smile.

Phil quickly looked back at Skeppy before he started to look suspicious.

“Dad, can we go in the water?!” Tommy called out, waving his hands and he stepped closer and closer to the water.  
“Yes, you can Toms...” Tommy smiled and laughed running towards the water with his two brothers following closely behind with noodles in their arms, obviously about to have a sword fight in the water.

The other kids followed after them.  
Phil then noticed Quackity and Karl holding hands with Sapnap.  
It was just little details he noticed.

Halo and Skeppy watched their son as he ran into the water, then quickly switched moods and Halo grabbed Phil by the shoulder.  
“You see him don't you?” Phil blinked to try and comprehend what they were saying, then looked behind them again to look at the boy and the monster.  
They were still starting.  
“Yes.”

Halo broke down right there, falling to his knees as he cradled his face.  
Skeppy kneeled next to him and patted his back to try and comfort him.

Phil heard quiet mumbles of ‘that's our son’ and ‘Ranboo please come back.’  
He was watching two parents grieve the loss of their youngest child.

But he knew there was nothing he could do to help the situation.

He just kept watching the bit and monster and how they interacted.  
The boy was crying, but smiling widely, eyes open way too wide for a normal child.

The boy seemed to be connected to the monster by a wire tied through his wrist.  
The monster was split down the middle black and white.  
A fleshy crown was placed on the boys head.

While the monster stared at the boys in the water as they fought, Ranboo started at Phil and his fathers, eyes pleading and begging for help.

Phil pushed past the crying couple and began to walk towards the boy, watching the tears fall down his face.  
Ranboo looked devastated but saved when Phil began to walked towards him.

He could hear the boys screams in his mind above any of the other screams, but never heard any words.  
Soon he was a few meters away from the boy...and stopped.  
The monster didn't even dare look down at him.

Ranboo stretched put his hand towards Hil with the same pleading eyes as before.  
“Help...me” the boy's voice was scratchy and scarred.  
Phil tried to reach out to Ranboo, but the monster took notice and growled at Phil, pulling the boy away from any sort of safety.  
Ranboo continued to stretch out his hand.  
“I’m.....still.....alive.” Ranboo seemed so tired and his smile quickly turned into a frown.

The boy held up a hand and put down his thumb.

Four.

Then it was all gone.

Phil snapped out of a trance and heard screaming from behind him.  
He turned around to see Wilbur and Tommy running out of the water towards him.

“SOMETHING GRABBED TECHNO!” Tommy screamed.  
“He's being dragged under.” Phil forgot about the monster for a second and began running towards where he saw his sons come from and ran towards where he saw the other kids diving under to try and find him.

The water was somewhat cold, but Phil didn't care as he ran to where his son was, diving down towards the bottom of the lake.  
There was a giant sinkhole, and he could just see Techno falling into the hole, reaching up a hand while struggling to try and swim-up.

Phil dove after his son and reached out a hand to grab his son's hand.

He felt the pressure in his ears as he kept going down, but he wouldn't stop.

Phil grabbed Techno’s hand and began pulling against an invisible force.  
Techno came up quite easily.

Phil began pulling Techno up as he got weaker and weaker in his limbs.  
The surface was so close.

His lungs burned as he finally reached clearer water again and managed to push Techno up to the surface.  
He popped up next to his son as they both took deep breaths for air.

Eret pushed noodles towards the two of them to act as a floatation device and began pulling the two back towards the shore.

Phil looked back at the sink-hole and saw a head peering out of the water with cat-like eyes and a malicious grin boating its features.  
It was all he saw before it dove back under.

Soon he felt sand covering him as he finally reached land again.  
He saw Techno next to him coughing up some water but overall seemed fine.

But something was missing.

Phil held his need up to look at every one.  
One was missing.

“Where’s Tommy?” Phil coughed, forcing himself up to his feet as he looked around for his youngest.

Everyone looked around and soon a new mission came into play.

Find Tommy.

Phil ran off towards the car and closer to the forest, feet pounding into the rock as he tried to find his lost son.  
Someone would have to find him.

As he got closer and closer to the forest, the screams in the back of his head got louder and louder, one especially sounding like Tommy.  
He saw a small figure walking in the field towards the forest and ran towards him, wasting no time as he saw his son in gull detail.  
“TOMMY!” The boy didn't stop but continued walking towards the woods.

Phil stopped just ahead of Tommy and grabbed his son's arms.  
Tommy's eyes were a dull green and not bright blue.  
He stared into his son's eyes as they slowly faded from green to blue.

“Dad?” Phil hugged Tommy tightly and never looked back at the forest behind him.  
He didn't want to see what might be there.

“We’re going home.”  
“I’d like that.”

Phil picked up Tommy and carried him towards the car as he felt so many eyes staring at his back as he walked.

Tommy slept with Phil that night, scared of any nightmares he would have.

All Phil could think of is what Ranboo had done.

Four.


	6. Parents day

After the events of yesterday, Phil wasn’t letting Tommy be alone without him if it means his life.  
Tommy slept in Phil’s room that night, and Phil heard him wake up crying.

Phil managed to try and comfort the sobbing boy as he tried to explain the sleep paralysis.  
Phil wouldn't understand him, but he rubbed his back and tried to comfort him with soft words.

So now, Phil held Tommy in his arms as he walked out to the bikes again, looking back at Techno and Wilbur as the two boys stood in the frame of the front door.  
Phil smiled, knowing that his two oldest would be safe.  
But Tommy still was in his arms.  
Five.

After yesterday, Phil was meeting up with other parents that he had met and additional parents who had lost their youngest children, sometimes more than one.

Phil buckled Tommy up and snapped on his helmet to avoid any head injuries that may occur.  
“Techno, Wil, Don't burn down the house when we're gone.” Phil waved goodbye to his sons.  
“We will Dad, don't worry.” Techno chuckled, closing the door behind him as he re-entered the house.

Phil smiled and started on the back, peddling ahead and down the road towards the town.  
They were all meeting up in Ponk’s lemon shop, somewhere that not many people would go to on a Monday morning.  
Luckily they all had the time off because they all mostly ran their own businesses.

Phil began to peddle through the dreaded forest again.  
Trees passed by as anxiety grew in Phil’s stomach.  
But he felt ongoing.  
They would be in the clear soon.

Clearly not soon enough.

Phil skidded to a stop as a young boy ran into the road, looking around rapidly before his eyes landed on Phil and Tommy.

“Sir!” The boy was wearing a purple t-shirt and bad glaring purple eyes.

The boy gripped Phil’s bike as Phil looked down at him in terror.  
“Please, we’re still alive, all of us, help me, please!” The boy's voice was full of pure terror and horror, pain sounding behind it.

“It doesn’t matter what the monsters said the countdown is, it's never right, it's always before or after, your sons going to get taken, you can't trust anything!” the boy screamed, tears streaming down his face.

“And...and I'm Purpled, Punz needs to know I'm alive, please, just tell him, PLEASE!” Purples shook the bike and Phil tried to speak up, but before he could.

He heard the screams again.

Purpled was thrown to the ground and began getting dragged into the woods at a pace far too rapid for Phil to catch up with him without leaving Tommy.  
And then he was gone.

A monster replaced him, a tall monster that was smaller than the trees but way bigger than Phil.  
It stared down at him and opened its mouth to smile.  
It revealed eyes instead of teeth, and its eyes were teeth instead.

“Stay away from my Son!” Phil pushed the peddles to speed away, leaving the monster behind as it stared at him and smiled with its eyes.  
Tommy seemed in a trance and snapped quickly back to reality.  
He didn't see a thing.

“Is something wrong Dad?” Phil let out a shaky sigh and shook his head.  
“Nope, just a raccoon that nearly ran into the road.” Phil would hear a sound of satisfaction as Tommy looked to stare at the woods.

Purpled’s words stuck in his head for the rest of the bike ride, and he felt slightly disoriented from the encounter.  
A bitter taste was left in his mouth.

The town was silent as usual, with no life or energy, just scared people staring out of their curtains at the strange people of a bike that were peddling through town.  
Causing a ruckus.

Phil turned down the right street towards the lemon shop, seeing Ponk standing outside.

Phil skidded to a stop for the second time that day and parked himself, kicking down the brake.  
He unbuckled Tommy from his seat and picked him up and took off his little helmet and placed it in his seat.

“Good morning Phil...” Ponk greeted him, and Phil nodded, shivering a bit.  
“Well...everyone's waiting.” Phil nodded again and entered the store.

Puffy, Niki, and Sam sat at one table while Skeppy and Halo sat at one across from them, chatting in hushed tones.  
A man in a white sweatshirt sat alone at a table, playing around with a fork.

An old couple sat in a corner away from the door, holding each other.  
A few other adults littered the surprisingly big store.

Sam looked up and stood up and walked to Phil, “I can take him so you can talk, I'll take him next door to my shop, nothing dangerous.” Phil nodded and handed Tommy over to Sam and watched him leave the shop.  
Tommy was in good hands.

“So... let's discuss what we came here to discuss.” Ponk moved across the floor behind the counter and rested his head on the counter, “take a seat, Phil.” Phil nodded and sat at another table near Puffy and Niki.  
The most familiar in the room.

“So...the events of yesterday...care to explain.” Halo stood up from his soot and nodded.  
“Yesterday at the beach, we had approached Phil and he seemed distracted by something behind us, so we looked and saw a faint outline of a shadow.  
“We asked if he could see him and he said yes. Skeppy and I knew it had to be Ranboo, just because of the details we saw on the outline.  
Then Phil walked towards where it was like he was in a daze and talked some alien language to it.  
Then his one son started drowning, and while we were all worried about that, I saw bright red birds fly past me in the direction   
That Tommy had been walking, and that's all.”

This was new information for Phil.  
He hadn't said anything.  
So why we're they hearing him say stuff.

“Anything strange from you Phil, and not just yesterday.” Ponk spoke up again.

“The day before, me and my sons made a blanket fort, and I had gone outside.  
This strange thing began to towards me, and then it looked into the window over our fort, the same one that used to be where Tommy’s room was.  
Then I had gotten sleep paralysis and saw a bird-like creature and it only said five.”  
Ponk nodded and everyone looked around.

The white sweater guy spoke up, “Anything today?”  
“Yes actually, but may I ask who you are?” Phil felt himself trembling at the thought of his encounter this morning.

“Punz.”  
And now everything was eight times worse.

“A young boy stopped me and begged me for help, he was dragged away by one of the monsters......and...and......” Phil stopped.  
“And what?” Punz said, questioning glare in his eyes.

“He said his name was Purpled, and he begged for me to tell you that he was still alive....” Phil saw Punz tense up and clench his jaw.

Halo stepped up again, “did Ranboo say anything like that?”  
Phil nodded.

Soon chaos descended on the fact that these kids could still be alive and for some reason, it never crossed their mind to check if they were.  
It was like the forest didn't want them found.

The old couple remained silent in the corner as others began to discuss their experiences before their kids were taken.

Phil stared at the couple as they whispered to each other.  
“What about you two?” Phil questioned, raising an arm towards the old couple.

The man in the couple sighed, “our kid was the first taken, we don't know why, and we've given up hope, a curse is on this town and no one can stop it.”   
The shop settled down.

“I'm sure we could stop it if we tried,” Puffy argued, standing up to point an accusatory finger at the old couple.  
They both simply shook their heads.  
“The mother wanted this, and she will keep it, or all will be destroyed.”  
Ponk moved around the corner and pointed at the door.

“Don't be crazy, get out.” the couple nodded and left quickly, everyone in the shop watching them leave.

Phil sighed and shook his head.  
Maybe the couple was right.  
If he lost Tommy, what if he never got him back?  
He’d never hear his son's laugh.  
He wouldn't get to listen to his loud talks about whatever.  
He wouldn't hear the music box that Tommy had hidden too well.  
He wouldn't have his youngest son.  
And the family would be ruined.

He couldn't let Tommy go alone.

Never.

But what about school for Tommy, Phil can't teach kids.  
What about when Phil needs to get a job.  
He will have to leave Tommy.

“Don’t listen to them, I'm sure we’ll be able to get them back.” Niki encouraged, giving off a false mask of hope for the people in the shop.  
Phil was sure some of them tried to believe it.

Punz was staring down at his hands as he shook slightly.  
Phil wasn't sure if Purpled was his son or brother, or even a small friend or even a student, but Punz cared about the kid, no matter who he was.

Phil couldn't stand the atmosphere in the room.  
“I...I think we should all go home.” Phil pushed open the door of the shop and walked out.  
The sky was dark and grey, a few drops of the skies tears raining down from above.

Phil moved over to Sam’s mechanic shop and pushed open the door.  
It smelled of oil and metal inside.  
He could hear Tommy and Sam somewhere closer to the back.

He walked through the shop and saw his son and his current caretaker.

Tommy was holding a small wooden Raccoon dressed in a green hoodie like Sams.  
“Hey,” Phil called out and Tommy began to run towards him.

“Dad! Dad! Meet Sam Nook!” Tommy held up the wooden doll.  
Now Phil could see a golden crown on its head and saw it holding a grey sword.

“Hi, Sam Nook.” The doll was obviously named after the character Tommy liked called Tom Nook. And Sam for Sam.  
Phil felt slightly betrayed.

Tommy Laughed and hugged the doll close.  
It wasn't made of wood, it just looked like it.  
It was another Plush for Tommy to add to his collection.

Phil smiled and patted Tommy’s head.  
“We’re going home now Tommy.” Tommy nodded and waved goodbye to Sam with a smile.

Phil buckled Tommy up again and set up his helmet before peddling away once again, hoping to not encounter anything strange.

He begged not to see anything.

Ran started to fall two minutes later as he biked down the road, nearing where he had seen Purpled just about an hour before.  
Time moved too quickly.  
Never slow, always quick.

Time was something made to catch the flow of a person’s life-span.  
Something that timed how long you had to live.

Phil hopped that all those kids timers didn't end way too soon, and in a painful way.  
It would be false hope.  
It would be those monsters giving false hope.

None of them understood the monsters as much as the monsters understood them.  
Children are always the easiest targets.

The rain poured down onto the road, and Phil had to squint to see up ahead.  
Tommy didn't seem to mind as he laughed in the rain.

Phil smiled then looked ahead again.  
He skidded to a stop.

A child stood ahead.  
But a friendly familiar one.

“Fundy?” Phil called out, placing a hand over his eyes to see the boy.  
The boy was looking towards the woods, eyes glowing deep orange.  
Unnatural.

“Fundy,” Phil shouted, and the boy shook his head and looked towards Phil.

Fundy opened his mouth to speak.  
But something got to him first.

A monster that looked like a fox jumped from the forest and tackled Fundy.  
Fundy screamed as he was attacked then dragged into the woods.

Shock filled Phil as he shook.  
He couldn't leave Tommy, but it would cause the death of this other kid.

He didn't have a moment to think before Fundy disappeared.  
And was gone forever.

Nothing was left.

Phil heard shouts and screaming, and saw the figure of a woman running into sight.  
“Fundy, Fundy please.”  
“Fundy, come back to mama.” the woman sounds desperate.

Phil felt his grip on the bike handle loosen as he looked up at the woman.

The woman looked at him with a desperate and pleading look.  
But his scared and shocked expression must be said it all.

The woman looked into the woods and fell to her knees, screaming even louder as the woods echoed back.  
Phil heard Tommy crying behind him and turned around.

Tommy had a small laceration on his cheek, and Phil wiped away the small amount of blood pouring from it.

He tried to ignore the desperate screams of Fundy’s mom.

Instead, his own son's screams filled his mind, and a new scream cried in his head.

He heard Fundy screaming and crying.

Numbers and letters got mixed together in his head.  
But a sentence was made by the screams.

‘YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME’


	7. Babysitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter Chapter

Phil knew that eventually, he’d have to work.  
He had applied for jobs before they had even come to the town.

Now he’s nervous as he gets ready for the job he applied to.

Fundy was taken yesterday, and his mother, Sally, was still a wreck.  
Unfortunately, Sally was a co-worker, so he’d have to stay a bit longer.

So, wanting an adult to be around, Phil had called up Sam to take care of his kids.  
As much as he trusted Techno and Wilbur. He wanted an adult to be able to keep an eye on Tommy.

So, he stood outside the house as Sam got out of his car and waved.  
“Good morning, Phil.” His voice was uncertain and a small bit worried.

“Good morning, Sam.” Phil’s voice was the same.

Phil walked down the stairs of the porch and towards Sam.  
“I can't thank you enough, Sam, ” Sam nodded and looked in the direction of the town.  
“With Sally grieving, I had no work for today, and if I get any calls, I'm sure the boys will be well behaved.” Phil nodded, then began walking towards his car.

“Have a good day.” Phil paused for a second and nodded.  
Maybe it was time for his perspective to change.

Sam watched as Phil left the driveway and began driving away down the road and back towards the town.  
He didn't feel eyes on his back.  
He was good.

Sam looked begin him to see Tommy, Techno, and Wilbur all peering out at him.

“Why do we need a babysitter!?” Wilbur cried out, lightly smacking his face into a doorframe.  
Sam sighed, “your father wanted an adult to help watch Tommy.” Tommy looked at Sam with big eyes.

He still held the Sam Nook plush from the day before.  
Maybe Sam could make some extra accessories for it.  
Maybe a builder hat.  
And a shoulder Tommy.

Sam looked back up and smiled at the boys, “now, you guys can do what you want, anything you want to do Tommy?” Techno walked out of the house and into a nearby shed while Wilbur ran up to his room.

Tommy tilted his head and thought for a second.  
“Can we build a house?” Sam was sure Tommy didn't mean literally.  
“Sure.”

Tommy grabbed Sam’s hand and began dragging the man up to his room.  
It looked like any average kids' room.

It was painted red with carpet, and there was glow in the dark on the ceiling.  
Several plushies were spread across a small bed in the left corner away from the door, the sheets a dark red with white clouds on them.

Tommy ran to the closet and began pulling out a bin of building blocks.  
There was a lot of building toys.

And they began building.  
Throughout the morning, Sam and Tommy built up various structures and tore them down in various ways over and over again.

Tower after tower was built after the other than torn down by its creators like the fame building it was.  
Most of the time they just toppled to the ground.

Blocks littered the ground as Sam held Tommy up towards their tallest tower yet.  
They had managed to make it taller than Sam himself.

It started wobbling and fell again, falling to the ground with several thuds as it spread over the ground.

Tommy laughed as he squirmed around and Sam set him down.  
Tommy threw the blocks back into the bin with a smile, throwing each block into the bin without missing his shots.

He then turned to Sam, “I’m hungry.” Tommy was like Tubbo in so many ways.

Sam wished that Phil could keep the boy safe.

“Okay.” Sam watched Tommy run from the room and run downstairs.  
Sam quickly followed after the boy.

As Sam walked down the hall towards the stairs, he heard guitar music coming from Wilbur’s room.  
It reminded him of a time when Quackity would play guitar for Tubbo and Ranboo.

He couldn't think of the past.

Sam walked down the stairs towards the kitchen and saw Tommy sitting at the table staring out a window towards the forest.  
Sam followed his gaze and saw a window in the living room that went directly to the forest.  
The forest.

“Tommy?” Tommy snapped out of a haze and looked up at Sam.  
“Yes big man.”  
“What do you want for lunch?” Tommy thought for a second before slamming his hands on the table.  
“Mac and cheese.”

Sam smiled and began looking through the food, and quickly found a box of the noodles.

Sam cooked the mac and cheese as Tommy continued to stare out of the window, starting at now falling rain.

Techno should come in soon.

Sam poured some mac and cheese into a bowl and slid it in front of Tommy.  
Tommy began eating the cheesy meal.

Sam heard footsteps coming downstairs and saw Wilbur standing there.  
“Lunch is ready.”

Wilbur nodded and walked over to the mac and cheese and grabbed a bowl for himself before wandering back up the stairs to his room.  
Sam would understand why he would want alone time.

Sam began to look to the window that Tommy seemed interested in.  
He couldn't see anything that would interest him.  
Nothing at all.

Maybe Tommy could see something.

Sam shook his head then looked out towards the shed.  
Maybe he should go and get Techno from the shed.

“Stay here, okay Tommy.” Tommy nodded and continued to eat his lunch.

Sam opened the front door and walked out into the pounding rain.

The shed was a few steps ahead.

Sam began to walk out to it.  
He noticed something quickly.  
A wooden board was blocking the doors from opening.

And Techno was banging on the doors and shouting for help.  
“Techno, is everything okay?” Sam heard the screaming cease for a second.

“It's on the property, the thing that dragged me underwater.” Sam heard the boy scream with pure terror in his voice, and Sam quickly began lifting the board.

He heard footsteps.

“SAM LOOK OUT!”

Sam felt pain in the back of his head, then nothing.  
He had been hit with something.

Like it was thunder.

A loud boom cracked overhead as Phil tried his best to drive through the low visibility.  
Turns out his new job didn't have the best electricity and the power went out and was allowed to return home.

A feeling of fear was building in his stomach and chest after being away from Tommy so long.

He was scared for his son.

He trusted Sam, but he didn't know how far those monsters were willing to go.

Another boom of thunder cracked through the sky, and Phil managed to see a lightning strike in the corner of his vision.

The thunder and lightning didn't help his mood.

Phil finally came into the field before the house and stopped.

A monster stood outside the shed, holding a long wooden plank in its hands and....and...  
And Sam in the other.

Phil felt his heart stop as he looked towards the forest and the field.

Tommy was almost in the forest.

Phil jumped out of his car and running into the field and towards his son.  
He could see from there how his son's eyes were glowing with a lightening blue colour that stood out in the murky green and grey of the clouds and sky.

Phil continued to run, but he never seemed to ever get closer.

“TOMMY!” Phil screamed as Tommy reached the edge of the forest and looked up.

Finally, he was getting closer.  
“TOMMY!” Tommy snapped out of his trance and looked at his dad.

Tommy reached out a hand as began to move in his dad's direction.  
“Dad?”

Phil finally began to get closer.

When it was all ripped away.

A bird-like monster flew down onto Tommy and grabbed him with its Talons and began flying into the forest.

Phil didn't hesitate to follow it while screaming for his son.

He never lost sight of the fleshy bird as he ran after it with an and tears pouring down his face.

He hopped over trees and puddles of water just to keep up with his son.  
The forest became darker and more sinister as he kept running after his son.

And he stopped.  
He stopped with the burd and Tommy.

The bird landed on a tree and held Tommy in its beak.  
A huge creature as tall as the trees appeared, opening its chest to reveal an area bug enough for a child to fit in.

The bird threw Tommy into the chest and the monster closed it, allowing a strange liquid to fill into it and Phil saw his son's eyes close and his face become calm.

He heard so many screams around him, his sons the loudest as the monsters disappeared.

But not everything disappeared.

Children surrounded him, all screaming at him as he fell to his knees and gripped his head.  
Some laughed at his misfortune while others cried for their parents.  
He can hear other languages being spoken and some people screaming to go home to very different places than here.

Phil couldn't handle it.

Especially when a small form appeared in front of him.  
Phil looked up to see Tommy smiling down at him with pure white eyes.

Phil passed out.


	8. ⊑⟒⌰⌿ ⎍⌇ ⏃⌰⌰

Phil felt a pumping pain in his head and felt leaves under him.

He was soaked.

Phil pushed himself off the forest floor while breathing heavily, looking around desperately for any sign of his son.  
There was nothing.

Nothing but large footprints of the monster that kept his son contained within it.

Phil stood up quickly, feeling an adrenaline rush when he heard screaming from behind him.  
There stood Sam and Techno, Sam also rubbing his head as Techno wipes away tear stains.

“Dad! Where’s Tommy?” He cried desperately, but Phil couldn’t give an answer.

Tommy was gone.

It all hit Phil like a train.  
He had failed to protect his youngest son against whatever was in the forest, and now he might never see him again.  
Phil fell to his knees and screamed.

Wilbur struggles against the vines that the monster had tied around his hands and feet, chewing through the one that was tied around his face.  
His now cold bowl of Mac and cheese sat next to him, spilled all over the floor and staining it orange.

But Wilbur didn't have time to worry about the floor, he had to worry about warning the others.  
Wilbur felt faint and drowsy.  
The monster had injected him with something.  
It had really hurt.

It still hurts but less now.

Wilbur heard tearing behind him where his hands were tied up and felt his hands come free.  
Wilbur quickly began to untie his legs and mouth.

And then he got up and sprinted out of the house and towards the forest.  
It's where his thoughts were telling him to run.

He ran over tree branches and mushrooms as the rain drowned him down, soaking him as he ran under the green hat of the forest.  
It all moved so quickly, trees blurred together and the sounds of animals were blocked out by Wilbur’s breathing.

Were the birds even singing?  
Could he hear the animals?

He didn't stop to think, he only ran ahead.

He didn't feel tired as he finally came to a stop under a thick tree with several scratches on it.  
He raised his hand to touch it as if he was in a trance.

“⊑⟒⌰⌰⍜, ⋔⊬ ☊⊑⟟⌰⎅.” Wilbur whipped around to stare at a tall woman coming from the trees.  
Her skin was made of bark, and she didn't have a mouth.  
She was taller than a house.  
She looked like mother nature herself with a flower crown of every flower.

Wilbur stars up at her with an open mouth and awe-filled eyes.  
Mother Nature looked at the tree and sadly placed a hand on the tree.   
“⏁⊑⟒⊬ ⏃⍀⟒⋏'⏁ ⋔⟒⏃⋏⏁ ⏁⍜ ⟒⌖⟟⌇⏁.”

What did she mean?

“⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟟⌇⋏’⏁ ⋔⊬ ⎅⍜⟟⋏☌.” Mother Nature waved her hand over the tree and it recovered quickly.

Mother Nature looked down at Wilbur and sat down on the ground to look at him.  
“⎅⍜ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎍⋏⎅⟒⍀⌇⏁⏃⋏⎅ ⋔⟒?”

“Yes.” Wilbur nodded, looking back at the healing tree.  
“⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⎎⏃⏁⊑⟒⍀ ⍙⏃⌇ ⌇⎍⌿⌿⍜⌇⟒⎅ ⏁⍜ ⏚⟒ ⏃ ⎐⟟☊⏁⟟⋔ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒⋔.” Wilbur blinked and shook his head.  
Surely she must be kidding.

She looked back down at Wilbur and reached out a hand to touch Wilbur’s forehead.  
He felt a surge through his body.  
He felt his eyes glow with the energy surge.

“⏁⊑⟒ ⌇⍜⋔⋏⎍⋔ ⟒⌖⏁⟒⍀⍀⟒⍀⟟ ⊑⏃⎅ ⟟⋏⟊⟒☊⏁⟒⎅ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⌿⍜⟟⌇⍜⋏ ⏁⍜ ⏁⎍⍀⋏ ⊬⍜⎍ ⟟⋏⏁⍜ ⍜⋏⟒ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒⋔.” Wilbur felt the energy leave him and left him tired.  
“Somnum Exterreri?” Mother Nature nodded and looked around.  
“⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⋔⊬ ⌿⍜⍙⟒⍀ ⌇⎍⍀☌⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⍀⍜⎍☌⊑ ⊬⍜⎍, ⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⋏⎅ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⎎⍀⟟⟒⋏⎅⌇ ⋔⏃⊬ ☌⏃⟟⋏ ⌇⍜⋔⟒ ⋔⍜⍀⟒...⏃⋏⟟⋔⏃⌰⟟⌇⏁⟟☊ ⎎⟒⏃⏁⎍⍀⟒⌇.”  
Wilbur didn't feel any fear as he heard that.  
He just nodded.

“I know mother nature.” Mother Nature nodded again and stood up, disappearing back into the forest without a second chance for Wilbur to interact with her.

And he continued running through the forest to find his family.

Phil sat in shock as Sam told him what happened.  
Techno getting locked in the shed.  
Sam getting knocked out.  
Tommy staring out the window.  
Everything led up to this point.  
Tommy was gone now.

The rain continued to pour down on them, gracing them with the nature of the world.  
Maybe it's just the way of the world that this happened.

Techno still looked shocked from everything he had seen.  
He still wasn't taking in the situation.  
Phil didn't blame his oldest son.

Phil kept his head in his hands until he heard footsteps again.  
Looking up, he saw Wilbur standing not too far away, soaking like all of them with tears running down his face.

“⎅⏃⎅! ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⍜⋏'⏁ ⏚⟒⌰⟟⟒⎐⟒ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⟊⎍⌇⏁ ⊑⏃⌿⌿⟒⋏⟒⎅!” He couldn't understand what Wilbur was saying, but his son still spoke in the language.  
Phil was just happy to see two of his sons alive.

But one would be missing.  
Tommy was still gone.

Wilbur stopped talking, then opened his mouth to speak again.  
“Dad....where’s Tommy?” Phil tried to not look his son in the eye, but that just made it worse.

Wilbur backed away and began to look around frantically.  
“TOMMY! TOMMY PLEASE! PLEASE COME OUT!” Wilbur continued screaming, staying insight only by the screams that radiated off of him.

So four people stood in a forest, all mourning the loss of the sunshine that smiled and laughed.

Phil carried Wilbur out of the forest after the boy had passed out from crying too hard.  
Techno was supporting Sam, who still was a bit out of it after being hit on the head with a wooden plane.

It just so happened that at that very moment, Niki, Puffy, and Ponk were walking up to the house after their shifts that work.  
Maybe to visit the family and for Ponk to meet up with Sam.  
Instead, they saw four sad individuals walking out of a forest without a fifth one running alongside them.

Puffy ran towards them first, taking Sam from Techno to support him.  
Puffy didn't even need to look at their faces to know that something was wrong.

Ponk noticed next as Sam was dragged towards him by Puffy.  
He noticed that Sam looked tired, upset, and was rubbing his head.  
It was as if Tubbo had gone missing all over again.

Niki stood in silence, holding a small box in her now shaky hands.  
The box dropped into a puddle as it fell from her hands.  
Two children in a day.

Just as Phil was walking up with Wilbur, he turned around to glare at the forest.

Phil saw the bird monster that took Tommy, covered in flesh and bones.  
Now it had a kid with it.  
Tommy sat next to it on a branch, mouth sewn shut and eyes replaced with flowers and mushrooms.

His son was reaching out a hand to him, begging for help.  
Phil knew he would just disappear as soon as he got close enough.  
He still heard Tommy’s screams in the back of his head.  
It was always so loud.  
Too loud.  
Too loud.  
Too loud.

Phil shook and set Wilbur down before curling up and screaming for the voices and screams.  
Just to hear them stop.  
He wanted them to stop.  
But all the children continued to scream in his head and ears.  
It all hurt so much.

He heard everyone's screams.  
He heard all the children begs and cries for help.  
But he couldn't help any of them.  
He couldn't even help his own son.

Phil felt like he spent eternity screaming.  
Maybe he did.

More people surrounded the screaming family, both friends and neighbours from nearby farms.

Phil felt a hand on his back.  
He stopped screaming finally as the screaming died down.

He looked up to see Sally patting his back.  
A tiny voice screamed in the back of his mind.  
‘Mom’  
And then it died back down again.

Sally gave him a sad smile that never reached her eyes and continued to rub his back.  
Techno sat not far from Phil, holding a doll in his hands that was covered in mud and the rain from the storm.

It had little raccoon ears.  
Tommy had tried to take Sam Nook with him.

But life doesn't always bend in your favour.

Phil sat in bed that night, bandages wrapped around his head.  
He stared up at the ceiling.  
He couldn’t feel Tommy next to him like he had before.

Phil had failed Tommy.  
He had broken his promise to Tommy.  
Now he didn't think he could ever recover.

Wilbur continued to speak the weird language, refusing to change back to English.  
Techno stayed cooped up, hugging the doll of Sam Nook and took Henry with him as well.

They were all mourning the loss they had suffered.

Phil sat up in bed and set his feet onto the ground.  
He walked over the cold floor and opened his bedroom door.  
Silence.

He walked down towards Tommy’s room.

He opened the door.  
It was the same as if nothing had happened that day.  
A few building blocks littered the ground and the sheets on the bed were messy and bundled up.

It was as if Tommy had never left.

Phil looked around the room and sat down next to Tommy’s bed.  
On the nightstand was a is box.

Phil picked it up and wound it up before opening the top.  
It played a delightful lullaby.

Phil felt as though Tommy could be sitting right behind him, listening to the music box with interest.  
He loved this music box.

Phil heard two doors opening but didn't dare look up at his two other sons as the music box played its song.  
He would hear humming in the back of his mind, as though Tommy was humming the song from wherever he was now.

He then heard Tommy singing along to the music box.  
It was a perfect melody in his head.

Techno and Wilbur watched their father as he cried over the music box that had once been Tommy’s.

Phil cradled the music box as Tommy sang its last words in his head.  
‘Please don't take...my sunshine away.”


End file.
